Impressions

PEORIA, Ariz. -- With split-squad games scheduled Wednesday and Friday, the Dodgers will play six times in the next four days. And that heavy schedule comes with the team already missing six players to the World Baseball Classic. But the good news is a number of players who otherwise may have stayed on the bench could receive significant playing time during the busy stretch. "For the most part it gives us a chance to keep seeing guys that we want to see. And see them in some different spots," Manager Don Mattingly said.

Hinoki is a fragrant cypress most Japanese associate with extremely expensive bathtubs, popular with the wealthy because the wood is used to build the soaking tubs at onsen , Japanese hot springs. Hinoki wood is also used to build the counters of the most prestigious sushi bars; long, smooth planks that are sanded every day and given weekly baths of milk. Hinoki & the Bird, on the other hand, is the new Century City restaurant from David Myers, who became well-known as the auteur behind restaurant Sona until it closed in 2010 and who runs the Melrose Avenue brasserie Comme Ça and the South Coast Plaza pizzeria Ortica.

INDIANAPOLIS - Oklahoma's Lane Johnson ran nearly as fast as Baltimore receiver Anquan Boldin, leaped as high as Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green, and matched the broad jump of New England running back Stevan Ridley. Were Johnson, say, a safety, his performance at the NFL scouting combine would have been reasonably impressive. But this boggles the mind: Johnson is a 6-foot-6, 303-pound offensive tackle. "Think about those three things for a 300-pound offensive tackle and put that in perspective of what he can be," said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, who said Johnson is "going to end up somewhere in the 10-15 range in this draft, and he has the ability to be an All-Pro left tackle.

PHOENIX - While working with Hyun-Jin Ryu in the first week of spring training, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was reminded of another top-heavy left-hander who used to pitch for the Dodgers: Fernando Valenzuela. "He has a presence about him," Honeycutt said of Ryu. Honeycutt hasn't seen enough of Ryu to draw any conclusions about how he'll transition from the Korean league to the majors, but he's certain of this: The 25-year-old's oversized torso is bursting with self-belief. Others see it too. "He does seem confident," Manager Don Mattingly said.

WASHINGTON - Two weeks before deep budget cuts are due to slice across the federal government, Senate Democrats proposed an alternative Thursday that would swap some reductions for a tax on people who make more than $1 million a year. The proposal has little chance of Republican support, even though neither party wants the automatic cuts. But Republicans are increasingly willing to stomach the reductions in defense and domestic spending rather than accept President Obama's call for a "balanced" approach that matches cuts with new revenue.

Great films are filled with memorable performances of all sizes, from the lead to the maid. During this season of big attention to big roles, here are a few actors who worked small moments of magic on screen in films that have received great acclaim - and multiple nominations - during awards season. Ato Essandoh: D'Artagnan, "Django Unchained" It may not be every actor's dream to get ripped apart by dogs. But as D'Artagnan, the runaway slave in "Django Unchained," actor Ato Essandoh was in heaven.

It didn't take too long for Friday's front-page story that Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez had relieved his predecessor, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, of his public duties for readers to start filling up the morning mailbag. And it wasn't with letters praising Gomez for taking decisive action; to the contrary, the reaction has varied between "it's about time" and "too little, too late. " Letters written in response to the article will likely run in Sunday's paper, and they can also be viewed at latimes.com/letters . Here's what we have so far (and some of these submissions may make it onto Sunday's page)

Americans are doing something they haven't done in years - they're buying stocks. Individual investors are pouring money into the stock market this year. They've been drawn by the powerful rally in share prices and are desperate for better returns than the minuscule yields available from bonds and bank accounts. This renewed enthusiasm helped the Dow Jones industrial average achieve a milestone Friday, surging above 14,000 points for the first time since the financial crisis struck.

"How was Sundance?" a friend emailed me when I got back from Utah. "I continue to hope that you were surprised, delighted and never bored. " Up to a point, I replied, up to a point. For the truth about the Sundance Film Festival, which gave out dozens of awards Saturday night, is that it's inevitably a mixed bag, where excitement combines with frustration in a particularly Park City way. Those of us who return every year do so because we believe in Sundance's independent mission, and just enough small wonders appear to keep us hooked.

Coach Bruce Boudreau had never seen Ducks backup goaltender Viktor Fasth play live in a game until Saturday night. It was quite a first impression. The Swede stopped 19 of 21 shots through overtime and then denied Nashville on its three shootout tries to clinch a 3-2 victory at Honda Center. Now the question is, what's the lasting impression of Fasth's NHL debut? Boudreau kept the answer open-ended after the game, explaining that the Swedish Elite League where Fasth came from is "a far cry from the NHL. " Yet, in this compressed season that has the Ducks playing back-to-back games five times by March 2 — with 17 games awaiting in that month — the reliance on Fasth could very well increase beyond what Boudreau first assessed.